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One example of tahrif in the accounts of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ashura\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' is the famous story of Layla, the mother of Hadrat \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar, a story that is not supported even by a single work of history. Of course, Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar had a mother whose... Show More >>One example of tahrif in the accounts of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ashura\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' is the famous story of Layla, the mother of Hadrat \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar, a story that is not supported even by a single work of history. Of course, Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar had a mother whose name was Layla, but not a single historical work has stated that Layla was present at Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'. But you see how many pathetic tales there are about Layla and Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar, including the story of Layla\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s arrival at \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali Akbar\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s side at the time of his martyrdom. I have heard this story even in Qum, in a majlis that had been held on behalf of Ayatullah Burujerdi, though he himself was not attending. In this tale, as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali Akbar leaves for the battlefield the Imam says to Layla, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I have heard from my grandfather that God answers a mother\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s prayer for the sake of her child. Go into a solitary tent, unfurl your locks and pray for your son. It may be that God will bring our son safe back to us.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
First of all, there was no Layla in Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' to have done that. Secondly, this was not Husayn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s logic and way of thinking. Husayn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s logic on the day of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ashara\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' was the logic of self-sacrifice. All historians have written that whenever anyone asked the Imam for the leave to go to battlefield, the Imam would at first try to restrain him with some excuse or another that he could think of, excepting the case of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Akbar about whom they write:
Thereat he asked his father\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s permission to go forth to fight, and he gave him the permission. [6]
That is, as soon as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali Akbar asked for permission, the Imam told him to depart Nevertheless, there is no dearth of verses which depict the episode in quite a different light, including this one:
Rise, O father, let us leave this wilderness,
Let us go now to Layla\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s tent.
One case relating to the same story, which is also very amazing, is the one that I heard in Tehran. It was in the house of one of the eminent scholars of this city where one of the speakers narrated the story of Layla. It was something which I had never heard in my life. According to his narrative, after Layla went into the tent, she opened the locks of her hair and vowed that if God were to bring \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali Akbar back safely to her and should he not be killed in Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' she would sow basil (rayhan) all along the way from Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' to Madinah, a distance of 300 parasangs. Having said this, he began to sing out this couplet:
I have made a vow, were they to return
I will sow basil all the way to Taft!
This Arabic couplet caused me greater surprise as to where it came from. On investigating I found that the Taft mentioned in it is not Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' but a place related to the famous love legend of Layla and Majnun. Taft was the place where the legendary Layla lived. This couplet was composed by Majnun al-\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Amiri and sung for the love of Layla, and here this man was reciting it while attributing it to Layla, the mother of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Ali Akbar, conjuring a fictitious connection with Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'. Just imagine, were a Christian or a Jew, or for that matter some person with no religious affiliation, were to be there and hear these things, will he not say what a nonsensical hagiography these people have? He would not know that this tale has been fabricated by that man, but he would say, na\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'udubillah, how senseless were the women saints of this people to vow sowing basil from Karbala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' to Madinah! Show Less >>

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